President William Ruto announced on Monday evening that significant improvements have been made to the Financial Inclusion Fund, commonly known as the “Hustler Fund,” aimed at better serving Kenyans and increasing access to affordable credit.
Speaking at a presidential town hall at the Kenyatta International Convention Center (KICC) in Nairobi ahead of the Jamhuri Day celebrations, the head of state confirmed that the credit limit has been adjusted upwards for the benefit of all borrowers.
“We got requests that many of the borrowers had reached the limit and they wanted to borrow more, and we have decided to develop a product called ‘Bridging Loan’ and today we launched that product where the good borrowers will triple their credit limit. e.g those whose limit is Ksh. 50,000, from today they can borrow up to Ksh 150,000,” he said
In this regard, the President announced that a total of 1.5 million borrowers in the Hustler Fund ecosystem will receive new enhanced credit limits effective Monday night.
In addition to the increased limit, Ruto announced that the loan repayment period has been extended to give borrowers more time to fulfill their obligations.
“Many borrowers have told us that 14 days is a short period to repay loans. Under the Bridging Loan, we have increased the repayment period from 14 to 30 days, and we will continue to build from there,” he said.
Using information gathered since the launch of the fund over the last two years, the President stated that his administration can now assign borrowers in the Hustler Fund ecosystem a credit score, similar to Kenya’s credit rating system.
“Our credit scores range from A1, representing the best borrowers who pay on time, to C3, representing those who are not as strong in borrowing and repaying but have a chance to improve their rating,” he said.
While highlighting the impact of the fund so far, President Ruto confirmed that Kenyans have saved Ksh. 3.5 billion under the Hustler Fund, pledging that the savings will strictly be invested in government securities to prevent any chance of loss or misappropriation.
According to the President, a total of 24 million Kenyans have borrowed from the Hustler Fund. Of these, 8 million borrow regularly, while 2 million are considered very good borrowers. The remaining borrowers fall somewhere in between.
